IS YOUTUBE BECOMING TOO COMMERCIALIZED?
3/4/07
I have been posting on YouTube's copyright issues and the company's aggressive drive in seeking out legitimate content. No doubt, YouTube must be feeling extremely pressured and vulnerable based on the actions of well-established players like Viacom. For those not in the know, YouTube was recently ordered by Viacom to remove 100,000 video clips of copyrighted material from its site.
Since then, announcements of content deals have been frequent with the latest report suggesting that Google and YouTube have now signed content deals with over 1,000 providers (large and small). Some of the larger providers I posted are Wind-up Records, the NBA, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, CBS Corp., Warner Music Group Corp., NBC, the National Hockey League and the BBC. .
While it is hard to believe, YouTube's move to secure more professional legitimate content is drawing criticism of over-commercialization and alienation of the original users of the company's website. Do you agree with this assertion and how do you think the company's new model will affect the number of users who view and share videos on the its website on a daily basis? Please provide feedback to the Poll questions below.
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